Everything Will Change
by Into Madness
Summary: One night is all it takes for Narcissa's life to be turned upside down. Nothing will ever be the same. One-shot.


**A/N: So, I'm posting more Harry Potter stuff! Happy day, right?**

**Right!**

**Anyway, I wrote this a while back, and I never actually posted it. But now, since I have nothing to do but procrastinate, here it is! **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter, Bellatrix, Narcissa, or anything else you might recognize from the books/movies. I'm just a lonely, poor little Muggle.**

Narcissa strained her ears with all of her might as she lay curled up at the foot of her bed, hugging her knees close to her chest. She used one long, pale finger to wipe away a stray tear that had run the length of her flushed face and down to her chin. Her nose was stuffy from crying, but she dared not sniffle; she couldn't risk missing anything she might hear. So she sat and waited.

She waited to hear the sound of the front door reopening. For the sound of apologies and forgiveness and reconciliation. Even the sound of more yelling was a welcome one- anything was better than the overwhelming silence that was slowly but surely crushing Narcissa. The longer she waited, however, the more certain she was that the silence was there to stay.

Another tear trickled down the seventh-year's face, but this time she let it run its course. Streaks of black mascara decorated her cheeks, which were red and slightly puffy from crying. And the unusual thing was that she couldn't care less how awful she looked, how much her makeup was smeared. At this point, Narcissa didn't feel like anything mattered anymore- not her status, not her popularity, _nothing._ Nothing, that is, except her family.

She shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could as the memories of that night washed over her. And, try as she might, Narcissa knew she couldn't fight them off any longer. She couldn't hide from the truth forever. The girl swallowed and let out a shaky breath as she went over the sequence of events in her mind.

_Earlier that night…_

The evening had started out as any other; her family had been seated at the dining room table, waiting for those repulsive house elves to bring them their dinner and carrying on quiet, short-lived conversations with each other. Everyone had joined in at some point or another except for Andromeda, Narcissa noticed. Andy's brown eyes were wide as she stared blankly down at her plate, and if she had seemed pale before, then she was positively transparent at this point. Narcissa leaned forward in her chair a little and tried to catch Bellatrix's eye, but to no avail. Her eldest sister was engaged in a dull conversation about something she had seen earlier in the Daily Prophet with their mother, Druella, her ever-present, trademark scowl plastered onto her face.

Narcissa's eyebrows furrowed slightly out of concern as she leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. The blond-haired girl stared intently at Andromeda, who was seated directly to her right. As if she was able to feel her sister's gaze, Andromeda turned her head around to look at Narcissa questioningly. Narcissa mouthed a quiet 'what's wrong?' and continued to stare worriedly at the older girl. Andromeda sighed and turned away, and mumbled something that sounded like 'I suppose now's as good a time as ever'.

Andy cleared her throat loudly, causing the others at the table to focus their attention on her. Without looking up, she announced in her high, clear voice, "I have something I'd like to say."

Bellatrix looked over at Narcissa, her eyes searching to see whether or not her youngest sister knew what was going on; Narcissa merely shrugged.

"Yes, darling?" their father, Cygnus, questioned with a slight smile and nod towards his middle daughter.

Andromeda slowly produced her left hand from her lap and shakily held it up for her family to see. Gasps were heard from around the table at the sight of a simple-yet-elegant diamond ring around the girl's ring finger. "I'm engaged," she announced without enthusiasm.

All was quiet for a moment before their mother, Druella, asked quietly, "To whom?" The Blacks all looked equally dazed and confused; none of them had even known that Andromeda was seeing anyone.

Her voice thick and eyes shiny with unshed tears, Andy whispered, "Ted… Ted Tonks."

Narcissa blinked, and then blinked again. She knew that what she was about to experience wasn't going to be pretty, and she braced herself for the tears that she knew were not far off.

Cygnus practically shot out of his chair, his expression one of rage and shock. "_What_?" he roared, growing redder and redder in the face with each passing second. "Andy, how could you! You know what he is! What were you thinking?"

"D-daddy…" Andromeda stuttered. The tears were now falling freely down her face, her eyes filled with pain. "I-I…"

"You _what_?" hissed Bellatrix from beside Andromeda before their father had a chance to respond. Her dark brown eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at her younger sister with… hatred? Disgust?

"I love him," Andromeda choked out, appearing to gain a little more confidence.

Those three, seemingly harmless words were enough to send Bellatrix over the edge. She leaped up and took a step closer to Andromeda's chair, looming over her shaking form.

"Oh, so you _love_ him!" Bellatrix's tone was one of controlled rage. "My sister _loves_ a _Muggle-born_!"

Andromeda stood with as much dignity as she could muster and looked Bellatrix straight in the eyes. "Yes, I do! And you're _my_ _sister_, for Merlin's sake! Why can't you just be happy for me? What happened to you, Bella? Why are you so different now? I don't even feel like I know you anymore!"

Bellatrix's eyes widened and her lips curled into an indignant sneer. And then the unthinkable happened- Bellatrix raised her pale hand and slapped Andromeda across the face with all the force that she had.

Andy fell back into her chair with a gasp, putting her hand to the spot where Bella had struck her, which was already throbbing and turning a magnificent shade of red. Narcissa continued to sit as still as a rock, tears flooding her eyes and impairing her vision. She blinked back the hot liquid and looked over at her poor mother, who also remained sitting. Druella was staring silently at the two girls in front of her as salty tears of her own poured down her cheeks. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop the inevitable.

Cygnus looked outraged. "Bellatrix! How _dare_ you-" he began, but was cut off when Bellatrix, not taking her eyes off of Andromeda, held up a finger to silence him.

"No," she hissed murderously. "You want to know why I'm so _'different'_ now, hmm? This," Bellatrix smiled a cruel, almost inhuman smile as she yanked up the left sleeve of her dress, exposing the white skin of her forearm.

Silence. The family all stared in horror at the eldest daughter's arm, no one saying a word. While the Blacks were all for pureblood supremacy and the idea that Muggle-borns, mudbloods, half-bloods, and squibs had no place in the Wizarding world, they had never exactly encouraged their daughters to become… _his_ followers.

As Narcissa stared at the black mark etched onto her sister's arm, she could feel the tears finally escaping her sky blue eyes. Truth be told, she had known that Bellatrix had been acting differently lately; while the older girl had always been particularly against non-purebloods, she had now started to rant about how they must all be "exterminated" every time the subject was brought up. Bellatrix had become very secretive and even more bad-tempered than usual, and had taken to torturing the house elves for fun.

And while she hated to admit it, Narcissa had known in the back of her mind that it would only be a matter of time before Bellatrix became one of _them_- a Death Eater. She just hadn't expected it so soon.

"Bella…" Narcissa whispered, her voice hoarse and distant. Bellatrix's head shot up and she focused her gaze on her youngest sister. Narcissa's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the furious and crazed look in Bella's eyes.

Andy was right. This wasn't the same Bellatrix she had always known. It couldn't be. Bella would never do something like this…

"Oh, God…J-just, no!" Narcissa cried suddenly, shooting up from her chair and taking off as fast as she could.

"Cissa!" she heard Druella shout from the dining room. But her mother was too late- Narcissa had already run up the stairs and locked her herself in her bedroom. The teenager flopped hopelessly down onto her bed and began to sob as the voices from downstairs started to increase in volume and become the shouting match of the century.

About fifteen minutes later, Narcissa heard the sound of the heavy, wooden front door slam shut. She knew what had happened.

Andy was gone. And she wasn't coming back.

~.~.~.~

It had been about two weeks since Andromeda had left, and things had never been worse for Narcissa Black. Her mother had been locked in her room for days on end, and at night she could be heard sobbing and moaning the name of her middle daughter; her father had become completely silent and wore a constant look of sorrow and anger.

But the worst was Bellatrix.

She didn't _care._ It didn't _bother_ her. Somehow, Narcissa got the feeling it never would.

It was late, around 2:00 AM, and Narcissa couldn't sleep. With a slight groan, she pulled herself out of bed and grabbed her robe before making her way out of her room. As the teenager pulled the robe tighter around herself, she caught a glimpse of a tiny thread of light at the end of the hallway. Feeling compelled to investigate, Narcissa started to walk slowly towards the source of the light, and instantly regretted not bringing her wand along.

As she got closer, she could see that the light was seeping out from underneath the door to the upstairs sitting room. The girl sucked in a breath and pushed the door open.

Sitting at the window seat with her face pressed against the glass sat Bellatrix. There was an open book in her lap, and her hair was messy and wildly curly. Bella warily turned her head around to face the visitor and sighed when she saw who it was. Narcissa noticed that there were dark circles under her sister's eyes and that she looked paler than usual.

Narcissa took a seat on the emerald green couch that stood in the center of the room. After a few minutes of sitting in a comfortable silence, the blond-haired girl finally spoke up.

"Bella?"

"Yeah, Cissy?"

"Everything's going to change now, isn't it?" Narcissa said it as more of a statement as a question.

Bella's lips formed a straight line and she averted her eyes away from her sister's. She knew exactly what Narcissa meant by that. "Yeah, I guess it will." The older girl sighed. "She's not coming back, you know. She's already been burned off the tapestry, been labeled a blood-traitor…"

Narcissa nodded her head and leaned back into the soft cushions of the couch. She closed her eyes and before she knew it, she had drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Bellatrix, spying from across the room that her sister had fallen asleep, quietly stepped off of the window seat and tiptoed over to the couch. She pulled a small, thick quilt from the back of the couch and carefully draped it over Narcissa's thin body.

As she stared down at the sleeping girl, Bellatrix's mind started to wander. She knew things would be different from now on; they would never be the close, happy family they had once been. And although she completely believed in the Dark Lord (_she _did_ completely believe in the Dark Lord…right?_), some part of her still longed for that almost child-like innocence that Narcissa still possessed. But Narcissa had never been hurt, she hadn't seen how extraordinarily _cruel_, just how _evil_ the world could truly be. Narcissa wasn't like Bellatrix, and Bellatrix hoped to Merlin that she would never be; she was too kind, too good, and too pure for that.

And although things wouldn't be quite so simple for much longer, Bella could still have this moment. She could pretend that everything was still…normal. That Narcissa wouldn't always think of her as 'My Sister the Death Eater'.

And for the first time in her life, Bellatrix Black wondered: _Did I make the right decision?_

**A/N: End! Alright, this turned out WAY more…depressing than I was expecting. Hm.**

**I'd also like to apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes. I don't have a beta, and my spellcheck is pretty unreliable, so yeah…**

**That's all I've got for now, guys. Remember, reviews make me smile!**

**LoonyLunaLovegood7**


End file.
